The Cincinnati Bengals have a certain blueprint in mind for the defense this offseason as they approach free agency and the draft.
Pressure.
That’s the plan. That and length at cornerback. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo spoke with Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com and kept it short and sweet: “Corners and rushers, man. Corners and rushers. You have to be able to affect the quarterback.”
Anarumo went a bit further:
“Absolutely. Look at the successful defenses in the league and what do they do? They pressure the quarterback and that doesn’t mean blitzing. The more quality edge rushes you can have, the better you’ll be.”
Not that any of this is a surprise. Perhaps most interesting is that the article points out the Bengals explicitly want to find another 4-3 edge rusher. That’s something they absolutely had with Carlos Dunlap, who got traded to Seattle and went on to have five sacks over eight games when finally getting some playing time.
Which is to say it’s unfortunate how things worked out between the Bengals and a franchise great last season. Now they’re trying to replace that, plus potentially replace Carl Lawson, should he leave in free agency and be one of the best pass-rushers available on the open market.
With the need so apparent, it’s understandable for fans to expect the Bengals to spend big money on this area, if not consider it with premium draft picks, too.
